Note 8 - Notes Payable

On March 29, 2019 (the “Closing Date”), the Company entered into a $20.0 million Loan Agreement with Horizon, the proceeds of which provided the Company with additional working capital to continue development of its gene and cell therapies. In accordance with the Loan Agreement, $15.0 million of the $20.0 million loan was funded on the Closing Date, with the remaining $5.0 million fundable upon the Company achieving certain predetermined milestones.

Each advance under the Horizon Loan Agreement will mature 42 months from the first day of the month following the funding of the advance. The first three advances will mature on October 1, 2022 (the “Loan Maturity Date”). Each advance accrues interest at a per annum rate of interest equal to 9.00% plus the amount by which the one-month LIBOR Rate, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, exceeds 2.50%. The Loan Agreement provides for interest-only payments commencing May 1, 2019, through and including October 1, 2020. The interest-only period may be extended to April 1, 2021, if the Company satisfies the Interest Only Extension Milestone (as defined in the Loan Agreement). Thereafter, commencing May 1, 2021, amortization payments will be payable monthly in eighteen installments of principal and interest. At its option, upon ten business days’ prior written notice to Horizon, the Company may prepay all or any portion greater than or equal to $500,000 of each of the outstanding advances by paying the entire principal balance (or portion thereof) and all accrued and unpaid interest, subject to a prepayment charge of 4.0% of the then outstanding principal balance of each advance if such advance is prepaid on or before the Loan Amortization Date (as defined in the Loan Agreement), 3% if such advance is prepaid after the Loan Amortization Date applicable to such Loan, but on or prior to twelve months following the Loan Amortization Date, and 2% thereafter. In addition, a final payment equal to $250,000 for each advance (i.e., $750,000 in aggregate with respect to the initial $15.0 million) is due on the maturity date or other date of payment in full. Amounts outstanding during an event of default shall be payable on demand and shall accrue interest at an additional rate of 5.0% per annum of the past due amount outstanding.

Each advance of the loan is secured by a lien on substantially all of the assets of the Company, other than Intellectual Property and Excluded Collateral (in each case as defined in the Loan Agreement), and contains customary covenants and representations, including a liquidity covenant, financial reporting covenant and limitations on dividends, indebtedness, collateral, investments, distributions, transfers, mergers or acquisitions, taxes, corporate changes, deposit accounts, and subsidiaries.

The events of default under the Loan Agreement include, among other things, without limitation, and subject to customary grace periods, (1) the Company's failure to make any payments of principal or interest under the Loan Agreement, promissory notes or other loan documents, (2) the Company’s breach or default in the performance of any covenant under the Loan Agreement, (3) the occurrence of a material adverse change, (4) the Company making a false or misleading representation or warranty in any material respect, (5) the Company’s insolvency or bankruptcy, (6) certain attachments or judgments on the Company’s assets, (7) the occurrence of any material default under certain agreements or obligations of the Company involving indebtedness in excess of $250,000, or (8) failing to maintain certain minimum monthly cash balances which range from approximately $8 to $13 million over the term of the loan ($13.0 million as of December 31, 2020). If an event of default occurs, Horizon is entitled to take enforcement action, including acceleration of amounts due under the Loan Agreement.

The Loan Agreement also contains warrant coverage of 5% of the total amount funded. Four warrants (the “Warrants”) were issued by the Company to Horizon to purchase a combined 288,184 shares of the Company’s common stock with an exercise price of $3.47 and a fair value of $0.9 million. The Warrants are exercisable for ten years from the date of issuance. Horizon may exercise the Warrants either by (a) cash or check or (b) through a net issuance conversion. The shares of the Company’s common stock will, upon request by Horizon, be registered and freely tradable following a period of six months after issuance.

The Company paid Horizon an initial commitment fee of $0.2 million and reimbursed Horizon for $30,000 of legal fees in connection with the Loan Agreement. The Company incurred approximately $1.2 million of legal and other direct costs in connection with the Loan Agreement.

All fees, warrants and costs paid to Horizon and all direct costs incurred by the Company are recognized as a debt discount to the funded loans and are amortized to interest expense using the effective interest method over the term of the Loan Agreement.

Amortization of the debt discount associated with the funded loans was approximately $2.3 million and $0.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, and was included in interest expense in the Statements of Operations.

On September 30, 2020, the Company repaid the amount outstanding under the Horizon Notes in full, which was comprised of $15.0 million face value of the outstanding notes, $0.1 million in accrued and unpaid interest, a $0.8 million final payment fee and prepayment penalties of $0.6 million. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company recorded interest expense of approximately $2.1 million related to the early repayment of the Horizon Notes.

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